COLUMBUS, OHIO — Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar answered questions about the slow start offensively from his second line on two occasions Wednesday.

Those guys proceeded to score three goals Thursday.

Valeri Nichushkin scored twice and Brock Nelson had the game-winner during a dominant second period and the Colorado Avalanche completed a perfect road trip with a 4-1 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

“We probably haven’t had our best stretch of games to start the season, but we had a couple of games where I thought we deserved a little better,” Nelson said. “We know what we’re capable of, which made it frustrating for us, but we stuck with it and played a good game tonight.

“We put a lot of pucks back in the O-zone, made a couple good plays to the net. That’s a good breakthrough, and now we just need to roll with it.”

Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves in his fifth straight start, and helped the Avs improve to 4-0-1 to start the season.

The Avs controlled play in the opening period, but couldn’t make anything of it and fell behind just 1:36 into the second. Nichushkin’s cross-ice pass in his own zone went astray and right onto Kirill Marchenko’s stick. He wheeled around the Colorado net and fed Ivan Provorov for a one-timer and a 1-0 lead.

What came next was a whole of Avalanche excellence. Cale Makar, skating in his 400th NHL game, evened the score. Artturi Lehkonen just missed wide on a setup from Nathan MacKinnon, but Martin Necas collected the puck in the left corner, got to Makar at the left point and he ripped a wrist shot over Elvin Merzlikins’ shoulder at 10:34.

The next several minutes after Makar’s goal were total domination by the visitors. Chance after chance — the Avs created 19 scoring chances in the second period, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Nelson put the Avs in front with his first goal of the season just 72 seconds after Makar’s tally. Nelson deflected a Brent Burns shot-pass from the slot.

Nichushkin atoned for his earlier mistake with the third goal of the period. Just as the final seconds were winding down, defenseman Sam Malinski sent the puck towards the net, and Nichushkin deflected it past Merzlikins for his first goal of the campaign with 3.9 seconds left.

“It was good to see those guys get on the board,” Bednar said. “They played hard, did some good things and stuck with it. You knew it was a matter of time before it came. It was a big game from those guys and we needed it.”

It felt like an overwhelming period for the Avalanche, and yet there was a moment when it appeared the Blue Jackets had tied the score at 2-2. Dmitri Voronkov skated towards Wedgewood’s right post. The puck went off him and into the net. He put his left arm out, but the puck appeared to just hit him in the chest.

It was immediately waived off, and an official told the Nationwide crowd it was no-goal because of a hand pass. Voronkov skated by the Columbus bench for the typical goal celebration anyway. An official said the Blue Jackets were challenging the no-goal call, but it looked like there was no review and play just continued without an explanation.

“It was gloved in,” Bednar said. “Toronto (the league’s review center) looks at it, but it’s not a reviewable (play), so there’s no challenge. Just like a kicked-in puck.”

Regardless, the Avs finished the second period with 30 shot attempts (after 29 in the first) and a two-goal advantage.

Wedgewood continued his strong work to start the season, but he did have a scare in the third period. With Columbus on the power play, he took a Adam Fantilli one-timer from the right circle off his collarbone and immediately starting wincing in pain.

The goalie was favoring his left arm/shoulder for the rest of the Blue Jackets’ power play, but the Avs’ penalty kill didn’t allow another shot on goal. The next save for Wedgewood came a few minutes later, and he was still in some pain during a TV timeout after that one. After a chat with a member of the team’s athletic training staff, Wedgewood remained in the game.

“Oddly enough, (Gabe Landeskog) got me in warmups in Buffalo with a lighter shot, but it was still an impact on my collarbone,” Wedgwood said. “That one, I had to yell my way through it. That one hurt. It’s probably the 200th off my collarbone in my career, so that thing’s made of steel now. But that one hurt.”

Nichushkin added an empty-netter, and Landeskog collected his first point of the season with an assist on the play.

“He’s a beast,” Landeskog said of Nichushkin. “We know that. When he turns it on, and brings the puck with him it is hard to stop, no doubt about it.

“It’s fun playing with him.”

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